My pathetic experience using Airtel's FASTag service

I have used other bank Fastags and I would assume someone would only blacklist a tag if there were pending dues. I checked my dues on the Airtel app and since I never even stuck it on the windshield, I was very sure there would be nothing.

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Guys, please consider this post as my detailed experience dealing with Airtel Fastag. Please use caution while dealing with them or buying their Fastag.

In February 2020, I had ordered Airtel Fastag for my Octy from their official channel. Now at that time, the car was being transferred from company to my name so they were running an HDFC Fastag on the car. The admin pressurised me to change my Fastag so I could not wait any longer and bought a Paytm Fastag at one of these toll booths. Stuck it, recharged it and drove it all along.

The Thar has BoB Fastag, which is a little hard to recharge on other apps, but a direct transfer to the UPI ID of the Fastag works just fine. The KIA runs an IDFC tag, which surprisingly has a very convenient web interface plus supports recharge on most UPI apps. The Bimmer had SBI, which had an elaborate KYC process, so I left some balance on it and bought a Paytm Fastag and that has been working well so far.

Now that Paytm is going bust, at least from wallet perspective, the need to change came about. I ordered a new Fastag for the Bimmer when I haven't cancelled the SBI Fastag or the currently active Paytm Fastag; I used the Paytm app and an HDFC tag reached me, no questions asked. Completed full KYC on HDFC for peace of mind.

Back to the Airtel Fastag.

When I tried to replace the Paytm Fastag for the Octy, I got an error stating the Fastag has been blacklisted. I was trying to buy one from HDFC, so if it was the tag that the company was using before I got it, they would have simply recovered any dues and reissued a new one.

Now among the two inactive tags, I was pretty much sure it was the Airtel one that was causing trouble. I checked their website and they have blamed it on NETC.

Pure, 100% garbage.

I have used other bank Fastags and I would assume someone would only blacklist a tag if there were pending dues. I checked my dues on the Airtel app and since I never even stuck it on the windshield, I was very sure there would be nothing.

I am not masking my car number so everything is transparent. Here you can see, there are no dues but Airtel have blacklisted my car number, maybe because they want me to go begging back to them to activate it. I tweeted to Airtel tagging all the departments including Payments Bank, but there was no response. Of course, their intentions were never good to begin with, so this was expected.

I called 400, asked them to remove the blacklisting and let me move on in life - they said they cannot remove the blacklisting or close the tag without activating it. I was asked to submit an attested copy of my DL and a hand-written letter stating that I have not used the Fastag by mistake and request them to activate the tag again. For the life of me, I don't know where that tag is, I never even opened it.

In parallel, I tried recharging the tag to see if it would get activated. No luck, tried every app, every UPI, every wallet, but no luck.

After a lot of deliberation, I decided to write to them with my ID and a hand-written letter asking them to activate the tag. Sent them the email to wecare@airtelbank.com and followed it up with another call to 400. They said the documents are fine but I have to activate my Payments Bank savings account by completing KYC otherwise they wouldn't be able to recover (yes, INR 0.00) from me.

So I completed the KYC today and activated my bank account - called 400 again and they said they will debit 150.00/- towards Fastag in 2 hours. After 2 hours, as expected nothing happened. Customer care asked me to manually recharge the tag from my Payments Bank, which I promptly tried to do but the transaction would fail and the amount get refunded.

Called 400 again. Customer care said they have no clue of how Fastag gets activated but suggested the amount may get debited in 24 hours. Here I am, waiting for the 24 hours to complete so someone from Airtel backend will remove the blacklisting and allow the tag to be recharged. Once that is done, I will cancel the tag and buy one from HDFC.

In the meanwhile, just to be sure, I checked if it is Airtel that has blocked the tag and it is not some funny episode with HDFC or Paytm. This was the result.

Imagine, for a customer who never used their tag or owed them a rupee is made to run around like this. I have left 500/- in the Payments Bank waiting for them to debit it and release my car number from NETC database.

By far, the worst experience with any bank when it comes to Fastag. I would strongly suggest anyone considering Airtel to look elsewhere as getting a Fastag from them is a trap - they will want you to stay in it and use their Bank and services and make your life very difficult. For someone who doesn't owe them anything, having to go through this is pure torture. My suggestion, please avoid Airtel.

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